The motors used in vehicle seats conventionally are driven from the central control system by means of a connection which in general is in radial form. This configuration entails substantial lengths of cable. If the set of vehicle functions is changed, the central program system must be re-programmed or possibly it must be exchanged against a new model.
The European patent document EP 0 230 203 A2 discloses a vehicle seat of the initially cited kind wherein each motor is combined with a peripheral motor control device that in turn is connected to a central motor control system. This central motor control system issues commands to adjust all seat-adjusting motors and is also the space wherein the memory functions retrieving the final adjustment values take place. The European patent document EP 0834418A shows a vehicle seat for which adjustment commands are multiplexed to the peripheral motor control devices. Moreover said central motor control system manages control commands reversing the direction of rotation and memory functions.
However such designs incur the drawback, in particular, of being inflexible with respect to subsequent alterations. Moreover large quantities of data must be stored and transferred on account of the data detected by the sensors present in the seat and of the motor adjustments caused by the central control system, and as a result the dynamic response function may be restricted.